HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL: Steinert doubles up Hightstown in MCT consolation

HIGHTSTOWN — They call it a Mercer County Tournament consolation game, so did it give Kristin Jacobs any consolation?

“Ummm no it didn’t,” said Jacobs with a laugh after her Steinert girls’ basketball team took a 64-32 win over Hightstown in an MCT match-up on Tuesday. “It didn’t at all.”

That’s not surprising, since Steinert led Ewing for much of the game in Saturday’s first round before the Blue Devils avoided the upset with a four-point victory.

“I think I speak for myself and the rest of the team,” Jacobs said. “I was exhausted after Saturday. It emotionally took its toll. We had the lead for most of the game and it was a game we let get away.”

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But, as guard Rachel Rivera pointed out, the game against the Rams gave Steinert a chance to prepare for what lies ahead rather than dwelling on the past.

“We said before the game that every game we come out to get a win,” said Rivera, who had four points and four rebounds “This is our preparation for when we play South Brunswick next week. We wanted to go out and fix things and work on things for next Monday.”

That’s when the 13th-seeded Spartans will visit the fourth-seeded Vikings, who are said to have three players drawing Division I interest.

Hightstown will also be playing in the states when the Rams visit Middletown South in a Central Jersey Group III game, but by the looks of yesterday’s game Steinert appears better equipped to spring an upset.

Leading 7-5, the Spartans (8-15) bridged the first and second quarters with an 18-2 run to open a 25-7 advantage. Steinert opened a 42-20 advantage by halftime and were never threatened. Kaitlyn Wolfsgruber, who has become a scoring machine in the past three weeks, scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half while Gaby Bennett had 11 of her game-high 17 during that time.

“I told the girls when we played Hightstown the first time (a 50-39 win) we were 2-12 so we were on that brink of being a must-win game,” Jacobs said. “I didn’t tell them that, but it was a must-win game. It was a bit of a struggle and it was hard-pressed for us to find points sometimes, it was sloppy. But today we put them away early and were able to be free and have fun.”

Cassidie Geffrard tried to keep the Rams in it with 11 points but Steinert’s depth was apparent in the fact that 10 different Spartans scored while just three girls tallied for Hightstown. Brianna Burgess also had 11 for the Rams and Jessica Marcus had 10.

“It was tough coming off that loss,” Rivera said. “But it’s like one thing is over and the next thing is there that we’re looking forward to. We still have the state tournament. We still have a big part of season to look forward to.”

And that right there, should be a consolation for both Steinert and Hightstown.